Emirates General Petroleum Corporation "Emarat" organized recently a training course for its employees about the "Six Thinking Hats" theory established by Dr. Edward de Bono. The theory is considered one of the most important tools that help in changing ways of thinking , ,liberating creativity, innovating sound solutions for different problems and challenges and getting over them, all in a simple and attractive way, which is considered an important and vital matter in an ever changing world ruled by economics and technology.

Mrs. Marwa Ahli, Manager Career Development at Emarat, clarified that the Six Hats Theory comprises six of the most popular thinking patterns used by people. The white hat represents numeric thinking, a pattern that believes in the language of numbers, documents and proofs. The yellow hat is the optimistic way of thinking that focuses on positive matters. The red hat symbolizes the emotional pattern of thinking which activates feelings and their choices. The black hat is the pessimistic approach focusing on negativities. The green hat is the creative way of thinking, preoccupied with looking for alternatives, thinking outside the box and giving words opposite meanings. And finally, the blue hat, which is names the operations control hat, and it represents the thinking pattern that manages business, establishes a schedule for work and organizes other operations.

Mrs. Marwa also said “the main idea of the thinking hats program focuses on the importance of practicing all these patterns in order to find solutions and avoid falling into the trap of entangled ideas and thoughts. This cannot be achieved except through practicing the embodiment of the numeric person, the emotional, the creative, the positive, and the negative. This means wearing each pattern’s hat and then replacing it with the other hats, until each hat is worn and tried out, with the aim of helping each person in organizing his thoughts in a more efficient way in order to reach the most appropriate solution for the problem at hand.”

She further added “of course, the hats we are talking about are not real, they are psychological. No one will actually wear a hat. This theory will face the problem of negative approach. After you have understood how the theory works, nothing will ever cause you to stop thinking. Not thinking is not the main subject here, but naming the thinking patterns used by people. This will help us guide how others think, like asking them to switch to the green hat for example, which represents creativity. Even if the participants were not creative, we will tell them “let’s give the green hat three minutes of our time, like actors”. This guidance will encourage the attendees to think without any fear. When we switch from one pattern to the other, we force others to cease using their old ways, such as the black hat for example, which tends to criticize others.

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Background information

Established by the UAE government in 1981, Emirates General Petroleum Corporation "Emarat" is currently the UAE's leading national petroleum brand.
Emarat aims to efficiently produce and market quality petroleum products and other services, so as to delight and deliver value to their customers whilst maintaining the national, public and government interest. Less...